Tips for Christmas shopping in the Smokies

The top five ways to successfully navigate getting successful gifts in the mountains

There are two reasons to do your Christmas shopping in the Smokies and only two. The first is the opportunity to find insane deals. The second? The Smokies offers a unique opportunity to find something that stands out, something you can’t find at WalMart or Target or by perusing Amazon for a few minutes. If you want to get – for the lack of a better term – a memorable Christmas gift? The Smokies might just be the right place.

Tips for a successful holiday shopping excursion in the Smokies

1. Prep Before Going to the Outlet Malls

Look, a lot of the retailers in the outlet malls have a significant web presence. If you know you’re going to be going to the Coach store or the Columbia store or Nike or Reebok or any of the other dozens of major retailers, go through their site and look for clearance items and sales. You don’t want to get something “on sale” and find out it was cheaper online. To that end, don’t be afraid to pull your phone out right there in the store and do a little comparison shopping.

2. Don’t be Afraid to Get Weird

The nicer way to say this would be that it’s a good idea to be unique. We live in a fairly consumer-friendly society. Let’s face it, a lot of the stuff that people really want, they already have. You could go the gift card route or you could get hyper niche.

The Cat House in Pigeon Forge is a great option for the cat lover in your family. Also, the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum in Gatlinburg just has an insane variety of Salt and Pepper shakers. Do you have someone who loves classic literature? Well, I bet they DO NOT have an Edgar Allen Poe Saltshaker paired with a raven sitting on a skull that also dispenses pepper. Why isn’t the raven sitting on a pallid bust of Pallas? Hard to say, but I’m guessing the sculptor – if that’s what you call people who make salt and pepper shakers – didn’t know what that was and went with something generically scary.

Ultimately the Village Shops in Gatlinburg is the best place to get unique gifts as many of the shops are incredibly niche. Is there a shop devoted entirely to socks? There is. There’s also a shop that features items from the British isles. In fact, I’ve always had good luck finding gifts at Celtic Heritage.

But it’s still a good idea to read up a little on the shops before getting your hopes up. For example? The Misty Mountain Soap Company does offer a fine selection of handmade soaps, lotions, and bath and body products. It is not, however, connected in any way to the Misty Mountain where Smaug lives in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic “The Hobbit.” It’s another Misty Mountain altogether.

3. Visit the Christmas-themed Stores

Multiple Christmas-themed shops do good business year-round, selling Christmas items. So you know, they really hit their stride in November and December. Now for some – giving a Christmas themed gift at Christmas is a little bit of a hat on a hat. However, it’s never too early to get a jump on the next Christmas season.

The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge is a great option while the Christmas Claus-et in Gatlinburg is a little quirkier. You also have the Smoky Mountain Christmas shop in Dollywood. However, you have to buy a ticket to get in there.

4. Don’t Underestimate the ‘Experience’ Gift

We’ve been really big on giving experiences as gifts in the last few years. Think passes to Ober Mountain or Anakeesta or Dollywood, which are always popular. But remember there’s so much more from which you can select. Arcades, mini-golf, zip lines and mountain coasters will frequently have gift card options. Don’t be afraid to explore those options.

5. Give the Gift of Food and Drink

We’re not talking about gift certificates here; we’re talking about actual edible food and some possibly potent potables. The Smokies are certainly full of great candy makers and nothing says Christmas like a nice tin of flavored popcorn or some good old fashioned Christmas fudge.

The Apple Barn and the Old Mill are both great for edible gifts and both have their own distillery, while the Apple Barn has a winery with locally produced wines that are billed as “world class.” The truth is I don’t have much of a wine palate myself. But when I go in fancy wine places I see French wines and Italian wines and even California wines. I rarely see a lot from the Pittman Center vintage. And while I know for a fact that some of the locally produced wines are good, I’m not sure I would mention that they are “world class” when giving them as a drink.

Speaking of world class, there are also a number of beef jerky outlets, the key lime place on the Island as well as a ‘Try My Nuts’ store in Pigeon Forge that might make a great gift idea under the correct circumstances. Probably not something for the reverend at church or your kid’s teacher but in a gag gift exchange might be just the thing.

What is your go-to gift? We would love to know. Tell us in the comments and on the socials!